Rodeo Announces Plans to Remove, Donate North Side Bleachers
Last updated Sunday, October 28, 2007 4:54 PM CDT in News
By Laurinda Joenks
THE MORNING NEWS
SPRINGDALE -- Rodeo of the Ozarks officials are removing the north end bleachers at Parsons Stadium to make way for a professional concert stage.
The bleachers, which seat approximately 2,000 spectators, are being removed as the third phase of an ongoing improvement program.
"We are going to have concerts every night after the rodeo and the (Professional Bull Riders event)," said Rick Culver, a member of the rodeo board of directors and the show chairman. The board hopes to sign popular country music artists for concerts during the rodeo and perhaps events at other times of the year, he added. "The stage gives us more options to do more with the arena."
The concerts will replace the rodeo's nightly fireworks displays.
The rodeo board hopes to give the bleachers away. "All they'll have to do is take them down according to our specifications," Culver said. Any individual or group wanting to remove the bleachers should contact Culver at 790-7425.
Rodeo officials plan to have a temporary stage in place for the 2008 rodeo and a permanent stage by 2009, Culver said.
Preserving support systems such as electrical, plumbing, lighting and sound is under way at the stadium. The rodeo board hopes to start removing the bleachers no later than the first of the year, Culver added.
Phase four of the overall improvement plan for the grounds might include a new ticket office, a board room, a museum and new restrooms and concessions areas attached to the back of the stage, he said.
The west grandstand was replaced in 1997 as the second phase of the project.
The board expects this third phase of improvements to Parsons Stadium to cost roughly $50,000, Culver said. The complete renovation of the stadium should total about $2 million, he said.
The board continues to pay off the $950,000 debt for the west grandstand at a rate higher than required, said Tom Reed, chairman of the Springdale Benevolent Amusement Foundation and a member of the rodeo board of directors.
A feasibility study by the University of Arkansas requested by the foundation spurred the board to concentrate on making better use of the facilities, with the ultimate goal of providing quality entertainment to the people of Northwest Arkansas, Reed said.
The feasibility study found Parsons Stadium to be much larger than those of other rodeos in towns the size of Springdale, in terms of floor size and seating. Rodeo directors don't think the reduction will detract from the performance.
"It will keep the action closer to the center of the arena, making every seat a prime seat," Culver said.
Seating capacity at Parsons Stadium will remain around 9,000 -- still larger than most rodeo arenas in the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association, Culver said. And the capacity will increase when the east side grandstands are replaced -- phase five of the long-term project.
Announcement of the concert lineup for 2008 will come after the first of the year, Culver said.
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